Meltdown
by Orishi
Summary: Things get out of control and go terribly wrong in the Battle of the Guilds tournament in New Aincrad. Old enemies from SAO resurface. Asuna and co. face a daunting challenge as Kirito is missing. Will Asuna find Kirito? Who wins the Battle of Guilds tournament? Tune in to find out.
1. Prologue

**The events in this story happen sometime in APRIL 2024. It's enough if you have just seen the Anime. SPOILER WARNING : Some events occur way after Volume 4 , so you know. **

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SWORD ART ONLINE**

* * *

**MELTDOWN**

**Prologue**

"Where is Kirito-kun again?" Liz asked in an annoyed voice.

Asuna, with a troubled expression, looked up at Liz and shook her head in denial. She didn't know. For the first time in her life, since the time she met Kirito in SAO, Asuna did not know where Kirito was. Lyfa- chan had told her that Kirito was going to login to ALO from some other place. _"Maybe he is at Nurse Aki's clinic." _Asuna thought to herself.

She was in her home on the 22nd floor of Aincrad. But without Kirito it wasn't the same. Home merely felt like a house.

She missed seeing his Spriggan form and the reassuring smile on his face. She missed seeing him drool over the food she made. She missed seeing the annoyed expression on his face when she teased him about his hair. She missed him so much. A week without him felt like a year.

Her thoughts were cut short, when her daughter, Yui appeared. Yui was back to her child form and Asuna was ever-so-relieved to see her. Liz in the meanwhile had logged out and now Yui and Asuna where alone in the house.

Yui ran to Asuna and hugged her, as Asuna held her and stroked her hair. "Mama, I am sorry. I could not find where Papa is. He is inside ALO. But I am unable to track his location.".

Yui looked up at Asuna with one of the most innocent and caring gleam in her eyes. Asuna, was moved on seeing this and was choked for words, as tears started flowing from her eyes. "It's okay Yui-chan. We'll find Papa. We surely will.".

Though she put up a brave face in front of Yui, on the inside Asuna was scared. Her throat felt choked and she felt uneasy. "Where are you Kirito-kun? You better be alive in ALO because I want to find you and kill you for leaving without informing me. Even if you're dead, I'd revive you and kill you.".

She caught a glimpse of Kirito's carefree confident smile while thinking about him and she felt reassured. Wiping her tears off, she held Yui close to herself.

"We'll find you Kirito-kun. We will"

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_**A/N : This is my first ever fan fiction, so I apologize if it seems to be a bit boring. I know it was a bit slow, but I assure you the story will pick up speed in the next few Chapters. It'll be a thriller. Hope you continue reading.**_

_**And please review!**_

_**Thanks for reading!**_


	2. Chapter 1: The Knights of Survival

Chapter 2

The Knights of Survival

It was time for the Battle of the Guilds Tournament.

A few weeks back, there was a system announcement about the tournament. The announcement did not go into any details about the tournament but it attracted everyone's attention because of the prizes at stake.

Apart from the EXP points which the players would gain, all the players of the winning guild would receive Ultra Rare Items and Sword Skills which were not listed on the Info Brokers List.

To top that, there was also a legendary weapon waiting to be won. Rumour had it that this weapon was so powerful that it could even destroy the 'Immortal Objects' in the game.

Asuna did not believe the last part. She just considered it to be an over exaggeration. She was still worried about Kirito's whereabouts. But she had promised the others that she would take part in the tournament and she did not want to disappoint them.

But their guild was at a disadvantage. Even though Klein, Egil and Asuna, herself were one of the strongest players in SAO, it was different in ALO. ALO involved magic and healing. There were large guilds with mages and healers which made them almost invincible.

Add to that the fact that Kirito would not be fighting for their guild. _Maybe if Yuuki was still she was In our guild we'd be so much stronger._.A tear rolled down Asuna's chhek thinking about Yuuki. It had been a month since Absolute Sword had passed away. _Yuuki-san_… Asuna instantly, shook that thought away and felt happy for Yuuki.

"Hey Asuna! Are you spaced out? Concentrate! We have a tournament to win! And so many prizes to take home!" said Klein in an excited voice.

"Hey calm down! Who made you the leader huh? Just because Kirito is not around doesn't mean you get to start giving orders! " Egil's words made everyone burst into laughter. Klein stood in the centre of the room scratching his head.

Asuna too smiled, and Yui, having noticed this felt happy. She could sense that Asuna was worried about Kirito.

Lyfa, Liz and Sinon were all discussing the battle plan. Klein was checking out his knew sword when Egil stood up all of sudden.

Seeing the giant Egil stand up suddenly, everyone stared at him. "Why is the name of our guild? We need to have a guild name to enter the tournament! What do we do now? "

Having heard Egil's words, everyone turned to Asuna. Asuna looked startled at this and looked away. "Why are you all looking at me?"

There was a brief silence in the room, which was once again broken by Klein. "How about Klein's guild? That sounds nice!" Klein was clearly worked up for this tournament.

Everyone shook their heads in disagreement.

"How about Furinkazaan? Or maybe the Redhead Guild? Or Klein's warriors?" Klein asked.

Lyfa was getting annoyed by Klein's suggestions.

"I know! I got it! The Guild of Kingdom Klein!" Klein said it out so loud that he had broken Lyfa's patience.

Lyfa chan marched upto Klein and without a warning,punched him in the gut. Klein yelled in pain and fell to the ground. "This is not your guild Klein. And stop with the ridiculous names. Is you Amusphere not working properly? Or is it your brain that's malfunctioning?". Lyfa's actions made everyone other than Klein laugh, who was still on the ground.

Then, Liz said, "Since we all survived SAO.." , her gaze fell upon Sinon and Lyfa, "Okay. Most of us. Why don't we call ourselves – The Knights of Survival? "

Asuna felt the name was old-fashioned. But she agreed._ What's in a name after all?_

Others also seemed to agree. Asuna, then formed the guild and everyone accepted the request to join the group. Asuna also sent a request to Kirito. But she didn't know whether he had received the message or not. She wished he had.

Asuna, Klein, Egil, Lyfa, Liz, Sinon. Six members of 'The Knights of Survival' were going up against guilds like 'The Holy Dragon Alliance' which had about 50 members._ What's in trying?_

They all left for 'The Town of Beginnings', the venue of the tournament.

The six of them arrived in the centre of The Town of beginnings to find that the place was completely filled with guilds of all kinds. Clearly everyone wanted that prize. It brought back memories of the first day in SAO. _That was so long ago. Kirito saved us back then. Where are you Kirito? _

Asuna looked up at the countdown timer.

The timer was ticking.

10…

9….

8…

7….


	3. Chapter 2 : Stipulations

**Sorry for making you wait and for not finishing the countdown in the previous chapter.  
**

**Hope you enjoy reading and have a good day!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SWORD ART ONLINE.**

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**CHAPTER 2**

**STIPULATIONS**

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

**[WELCOME TO THE BATTLE OF GUILDS TOURNAMENT]**

**[YOUR OBJECTIVE IS SIMPLE]**

**[KILL THE FINAL BOSS]**

**[IF YOUR GUILD IS READY, THEN ENTER THE TOURNAMENT]**

**[ON ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE, YOUR GUILD WOULD BE TELEPORTED TO A RANDOM SPOT INSIDE THE DUNGEON]**

**[PRESS Y/N]**

The dialog box opened up in front of Asuna. She looked at her guild members. They all nodded in agreement. Asuna took a deep breath and pressed Y.

But nothing happened. They were not teleported anywhere. No one was. Everyone was still there.

_Bug? _Asuna's doubt was answered by a system message in the New Aincrad Sky. Asuna's heart almost stopped on reading the message. Time seemed to slow down and old memories came rushing into her mind. Asuna swallowed hard and read it.

**[THIS IS NOT A BUG]**

**[ONLY 64 GUILDS ARE ALLOWED TO ENTER THE TOURNAMENT]**

**[THE FIRST 64 TO ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE WILL NOW PROCEED TO ENTER THE TOURNAMENT]**

**[ADDED STIPULATION: IF YOU FAIL TO WIN THE TOURNAMENT, OR BACK OUT NOW, ALL YOUR USER DATA WILL BE DELETED PERMANENTLY]**

The Town of Beginnings suddenly fell silent. Everyone looked startled. Even though user data deletion wasn't as bad as a death game like SAO, still, many people had worked for years to get to what they were now. At least in this world. Inside ALO. All their hard work would be deleted in the blink of an eye.

Asuna kept staring at the message with a gaping mouth. Her legs felt numb and it was as if her world was crashing in front of her own eyes._ Home. My home. _That was her only concern. To her it was one of the most important things in her life, even if it was inside a VRMMORPG. She could hardly breathe and she looked around. Everyone around her seemed shocked.

But to her the stipulation was an added burden. Kirito was already missing. The last thing she would want was losing her home in Aincrad. She had become attached to it and didn't ever want to let go of it. It had so many memories attached.

Liz walked to Asuna and placed her hand over Asuna's shoulder. In a resounding voice she said, "Don't worry. We are not going to lose anything. We survived SAO. How tough can some stupid tournament be?"

"The party is on me then. I'll buy the drinks once we get back after winning" Klein smiled and put his hand out in front. All of them placed their palms one over the other. Asuna was the last member of the guild to place her arm.

"Let's do this."Asuna said it so confidently that everyone else on the guild felt that they could make it.

And before they could say anything more, each one of them was engulfed in a blue light as the teleportation began. Asuna was still wondering about the final message she had seen in the sky.

**[ALL THE BEST. ENLIGHTENMENT AWAITS YOU. MAKE USE OF IT]**

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**A/N : Okay, I know it's stupid to write a chapter on a single stipulation. But I had to. I wanted to highlight how important winning this tournament was. I didn't want to start a death game again, hence the stipulation. Do you agree?**

**The real fight starts in the next chapter and like I said before, OLD ENEMIES resurface. Oops, spoiler alert. **

**Thanks for reading. **

**PLEASE REVIEW!  
**


	4. Chapter 3 : Chaos

**Okay, this is where the story really begins. Sorry for dragging it until now.**

**HOPE YOU ENJOY READING IT!**

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN SWORD ART ONLINE.**

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**CHAPTER 2**

**CHAOS**

Asuna landed with her face down in the middle of some tropical forest in Aincrad. _What is this place? Where am I?_

Even though she had made it to the 75th floor in SAO, she had never come across a dungeon like this. It was eerie and portentous. Asuna had a gut feeling that something bad was going to happen. She just couldn't transpire what it would be.

_Where are the others? Why am I alone? Yet another problem._ She was all alone in this place. Her guild members were not there with her. _Can it get any worse? _With this thought Asuna started walking through the forest.

* * *

"Oy Liz! Get up! Stop sleeping and get up, all ready!" Klein was trying to shake Liz out of her slumber. _How could she become unconscious due to a simple teleportation? Stupid Blacksmith. Who asked her to come? Should have stayed in the smelter._

Liz slowly opened her to find the form of the redheaded Salamander's figure staring at her. It was Klein. As Liz got up to her feet, she looked around and found herself in a dark canyon. The sky was probably set to the night setting, so it was pitch dark. Thanks to Klein's spell, the adjacent area was illuminated to an extent.

"What happened? Didn't we all warp together? Where are the others?"

Klein scratched his head helplessly as he had no answer to her questions.

* * *

As soon as Lyfa, Agil and Sinon, warped into the dungeon, they had encountered powerful NPCs. Mummies. What kind of setting was that? Neither ALO nor SAO had such monsters. Not that they knew off. With great difficulty and thanks to some great sword fighting from Lyfa-chan, they managed to survive.

This was Sinon's first official battle in New Aincrad, and she seemed a bit off pace. Lyfa and Agil were not surprised though. For a person who was a master at using guns to blow away her opponents, sword fighting was pretty difficult. But she was improving with every hit.

"Agil, Sinon, where the hell are we?"

Lyfa looked around at the two of them. The look on their faces said it all. _They have no clue as well._

* * *

Luckily for Asuna, somehow, Yui came flying to her. Asuna felt happy that she at least had her daughter for company, in this god forsaken forest. For such a huge forest, it was ominoulsy silent. Not a sound. The only sound she could hear was of her breath, her footsteps, and the fluttering of Yui's tiny wings.

"Where am I, Yui?"

"One second Mama. Let me check."

"We are in a certain dungeon inside New Aincrad…..The protocols around this dungeon are complex. I am not able to reference them. Sorry Mama."

Yui's pixie face dropped down because of her inability to help her mother.

"It's alright Yui. We'll find our way out."

On hearing these comforting words, Yui's face once again lit up.

"Mama! Why don't you check the location of others using your tracker. Their position should be displayed there. You can then message them and we all can meet up at a certain point."

It was a good idea. _Yes. Yui is right. This could work._

As she opened her menu and scrolled to the 'Friends' tab, she could see three pointers in the map. They were not far away. From her experience, she judged that they would be some 10 miles north-east from where she currently stood.

But then a chill ran down her spine. What about the other two? It has only been a few minutes. _Are they….Are they dead…Already? _Asuna shook off that thought from her mind. She believed in her friends and she knew they were still alive, even if the map suggested otherwise.

The three people on the map were moving as well. They were headed towards Asuna. Asuna decided to move in their direction to rendezvous with them as soon as possible.

But just when she was about to head for them, she heard a twig creek behind her. As she turned around, she heard slight footsteps. It was not heavy. There was no flutter of wings.

_Someone is hiding here._ Asuna scrutinized her surroundings with an intense look. She could not see anything unusual. Of course, magic, would enable, people to hide and conceal them. And the forest setting would only help their cause. But Asuna could not shake off the situation at hand. It had to be handled.

Once again she heard some footsteps behind her back and Yui shouted, "Mama behind you!"

Asuna quickly turned around to find a Spriggan fly towards grasping a long sword in his hand. The sword quickly turned red and let out a hissing sound. _A Sword skill. _

Asuna ducked to avoid the attack and instantly unsheathed her rapier and attacked the Spriggan. The force of Asuna's attack sent the Spriggan flying . Before the Spriggan could regain composure, Asuna was at him again, relentlessly attacking him. A six hit combo, reduced the Spriggan's HP to the red level. Asuna was about to go for the kill, when a homing spell, aimed right at her head, came towards her. Even though Lightning Flash Asuna had lightning fast reflexes, there was no time for her to react. In the blink of an eye, the attack hit her and she fell to the ground.

Shockingly the pain which Asuna felt was excruciating. It was too real. She remembered once that Sugou had reduced the pain absorber back in ALO, on top of the world tree. Even in tormenting pain, Asuna saw right through it. _Someone has reduced the Pain Absorber level. But who would do that? Why do such a thing? The stipulations itself seem harsh and now the pain. My day just keeps getting worse._

"Mama, are you alright?" Yui asked in a very disturbed voice.

Asuna didn't know what to say. Her mind was flooded with thoughts. Who had attacked her and where was this person?

Instantly, almost out of nowhere, she could see a tall figure slowly walking towards her. Asuna tried her best to move, but she just could not. Her whole body felt numb and she couldn't move an inch. _Maybe it is because of the spell._

The tall figure was that of a Salamander. He looked large and imposing. He was wearing a mask and only his eyes were visible. His eyes had an evil glint to them. Something about those eyes told Asuna that this person was evil and just as his gaze fell upon Asuna and they made eye contact, Asuna instantly looked away, horrified.

Asuna's eyes fell upon his hands. She swore her heart almost stopped beating for a split second. A chill ran down her spine and she started sweating. Even though this was only virtual reality, the engines and protocols running, simulated these feelings and they were very much real. Too real. She suddenly felt as if she was drowning in a pool of pain and fear.

_That symbol…_ Asuna swallowed as her mind processed what she had just seen…. _The Laughing Coffin… _

Yui could only look on helplessly. Tears fell from her eyes on seeing her mother in pain and distress.

The Salamander walked to Asuna and stamped her mid-section with his feet. Asuna felt the force crushing her. The pain was just too much to bear. He, then unsheathed his sword.

As he raised the sword, to deliver the killing blow, Asuna could only think about one thing.

As the sword descended, Asuna turned away and closed her eyes.

_Sorry, Kirito-kun._

* * *

**A/N : As always thanks for reading and was there anything wrong in this chapter? If you thought so, then do let me know.**_  
_

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 4 : Rage

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN SWORD ART ONLINE.**

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**CHAPTER 4**

**RAGE**

Yui watched helplessly as the masked Salamander thrust his sword towards Asuna who lay on the ground, with her eyes closed, having accepted defeat.

Yui could not stand this sight, even though she was just an AI, she felt something close to what humans, would call anger. She attacked the Salamander and hit the only part which was not covered. She went and poked into his eye, distracting him in the process, and the sword missed Asuna by a few inches as it hit the ground besides her.

Asuna opened her eyes in bewilderment to see Yui holding on to the mask, just about blocking the masked Salamander's vision. Asuna felt grateful and thanked her daughter for saving her as tears fell from Asuna's eyes. Tears of happiness. And those of pride.

But soon these would turn into one of pain.

The Salamander caught Yui in his hand. He cruelly crushed her in his huge hands and threw her out of sight.

Even though Yui, was an AI, and that she wouldn't be hurt, still Asuna just could not stand the sight of her daughter suffering at the hands of a brute. Anger over ruled logic and Asuna's was exploding on the inside.

Just when the Salamander was about to get his sword, Asuna kicked him right in his face and continued with another kick into his ribs.

The masked Salamander was caught off guard and had never expected something like this. His spell was supposed to paralyse Asuna for hours, but there she was, standing in front of him. He could only watch in total horror.

The rage inside Asuna was still exploding as she unsheathed her rapier and struck the masked Salamander with a 11-hit, Original Sword Skill, Mother Rosario. Asuna was irate and each blow of her sword were filled with rage and hatred. Asuna had completely lost her mind and attacked relentlessly and ruthlessly. The seventh hit broke the salamander's sword in two as he tried to defend her attack with it.

With the eleventh strike, the Masked Salamander's HP dropped almost to zero.

_One Final Hit._ Asuna said in her mind.

Asuna went in for the kill, but before she could strike another sword came flying at her. Asuna jumped sideways and quickly dodged the attack, but before she could react, the Spriggan attacked from behind. As he reached for his sword, Asuna could see that, he too, had the Laughing Coffin symbol.

_Two of them? Don't tell me that... _

Before Asuna could process what she had just seen the Spriggan attacked. Asuna used her rapier to defend the attack, but the force of the attack pushed Asuna back and she flinched for an instant.

At that instant, the masked Salamander, who was writhing in pain on the ground, sent another homing spell straight at Asuna. Asuna barely managed to dodge it, but the Spriggan's sword hit her and she fell to the ground. Her HP, which was already very low, almost hit zero.

She could see the Spriggan run towards her with his sword, but her vision became blurry and just when he was about to put the sword through her, Asuna's rapier slipped out of her hand and Asuna blacked out.

* * *

**A/N : The OSS mentioned here, Mother Rosario is an OSS which she gets from her friend in the 8th volume. (Oops, spoiler alert!)**

**I just wanted to highlight how furious Asuna was when she saw her daughter, Yui, being tortured. Did I do it right? Do let me know what you felt.**

**And as always thanks for reading and PLEASE REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 5 : Reunion

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN SWORD ART ONLINE!**

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**CHAPTER 5  
**

**REUNION**

"Agil, don't you think we can see the other people's position on our tracker? I mean, since they are on are friend's list, we should be able to see it right?"

"You are correct Lyfa. Great idea. Let's check it out."

Sinon looked on as the conversation between Lyfa and Agil continued. Sinon was lost in her own thoughts about this game. While fighting with those AI, she had been hit only twice. But the pain she felt was real. Somehow, it was different from being shot in GGO. _Better not tell them otherwise they'd think I am weak._

"Yes! I found one. Not far from here."

"Only one? What about the others?" Lyfa asked in a disturbed tone.

"Well to begin with, Liz isn't one of the strongest. Maybe someone got her." Sinon said in a cold manner with a smirk on her face.

"Come on. We should believe in them. Many games nowadays have trackers with limited range. Maybe ALO updated to one of them. We haven't really put it to use in the past. So, we wouldn't really know. I guess the others are just out of range, so at the moment we can't see them. Let me send them a message, so that they know where we are headed." Agil quickly typed a message and sent it to the other members of the guild.

Lyfa felt relieved on hearing these words. They started moving towards the only other person they found on the map. Even though they didn't know who it was, they hoped that this person would be safe.

Initially, the marker was moving, but all of a sudden it stopped. The marker was only a few miles away from them, when they heard entered a forest area on the dungeon.

None of them liked the eerie silence of this forest.

_Somehow, it doesn't feel right._

Lyfa was the first to hear it. It was very faint but she swore to god that, it was the sound of metal hitting metal. _Someone is fighting._

Quickly she opened the tracker and checked the map. The marker which was moving before some time, was now stationary. Lyfa told Agil and Sinon about this and they quickened their footsteps. Lyfa kept the tracker opened and the marker was still stationary. They were only a few miles away when they heard the sounds again. And this time sparks flew high into the sky.

_These are not normal sparks. These are... _Lyfa turned to Agil and looking at the expression on his face and she knew she was right. _Asuna._

Asuna had once shown her OSS to all her friends. An eleven hit OSS. Mother Rosario, one of the most devastating moves in the whole game.

_If someone as cool and composed as Asuna is using this, something has to be wrong. _Even though SInon had only met Asuna before a few months, she definitely knew what type of a person Asuna was. She turned to Lyfa and their gazes met. _Asuna is in danger._

With a nod, and no words spoken, Lyfa and Sinon took off in an instant. Agil was left to stare in shock, at the speed at which they both had taken off. Regaining his senses, Agil followed them and did his best to keep up, but the two were just too fast and had already disappeared deep into the woods.

_Damn, how are they so quick?_

* * *

Liz had received Agil's message and on opening her tracker, she found only on person in her surrounding region. They started moving towards this person.

After some time, when Klein decided to check on the tracker once again, the one person they were approaching had now gone off the tracker. Instead there were three of them moving in a totally different direction.

"What the hell? What happened to the single marker? Did you check it correctly Liz?"

"Of course I did. Why? What happened?"

"That marker is not there anymore. But there are three on the other side now."

"Maybe that person joined up with the others?"

"Okay. Let's head to these three then. More the merrier, after all. Let me just check again."

Liz and Klein looked into the map once again. What they saw next left them astounded.

Both of them looked on at the map with gaping mouths.

"What.. What just happened? Those two markers just moved at lightning speed. Klein ! "

Klein regained his composure and said in a confident manner, "The third marker is really slow. It has to be Agil. I have known him for 4 years now. That's him alright. And the other two will be Asuna and Lyfa, I guess. They are the fastest two, apart from Kirito."

"For once you actually make sense."

"What? I make sense all the time, you stupid blacksmith."

"Hey! How dare you? Wait. Why are they moving so fast? I think someone is in trouble."

"Sinon. Yes. We should hurry. Come on Liz, let's hope you can fly faster than the speed at which your brain works!", with this Klein also took off and flew towards the others.

"What? Hey, wait up!"

* * *

Asuna slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was till blurred and out of focus. She couldn't hear clearly as well. _What happened? Am I dead? Where am I?_

As she regained consciousness slowly, she found Lyfa standing in front of her chanting healing spells to restore her HP. To her right, Sinon stood with a worried look on her face.

In a few minutes, Asuna's HP was restored to full and she managed to get up.

"What happened?" Asuna was totally confused about what had transpired. The last thing she could remember was the Spriggan about to attack her and her HP almost hitting zero.

"Sinon saved you. That's what happened." Lyfa said, pointing at Sinon before starting to laugh.

"I didn't do anything. It was all Lyfa. The minute we saw the Spriggan who was about to attack you, in a split second, Lyfa flew so fast that my eyes couldn't even follow her movement. And the next instant, she blocked the Spriggan's attack with her sword and knocked it out of his hand. I just followed up, sneaked behind and stabbed him in the back. He then, disintegrated into white polygons and disappeared."

"He would have died either way, his HP was very low."

Asuna looked around and quickly asked, "What about the other person, the masked Salamander?"

"Yes. I too remember seeing him lying on the ground, but was focussed on attacking the Spriggan so didn't pay much attention to him. Then I totally forgot about him, while trying to heal you."

"I looked for him once the Spriggan was finished, but even though I heard his distant footsteps, I couldn't see him. Besides I saw his HP hit rock bottom, he wouldn't last long." Clearly neither Sinon nor Lyfa understood the seriousness of the situation.

Asuna controlled her anger at Sinon and Lyfa for letting him get away and was grateful for the two for saving her. Also, Yui came flying by, and the sight of her delighted face, melted away any bit of anger in Asuna's heart. _Yui-chan._

"Thank you Lyfa. Thank you Sinon. If it wasn't for you too I would be dead by now."

"It's alright Asuna-san, I couldn't let you die."

Agil slowly walked upto them with a horrified look on his face. He stood there, at a distance, totally silent and with a shocked expression on his face with his eyes wide open and mouth gaping in terror. His face looked pale and his expression suggested that he had just had seen his biggest nightmare come true.

Out of nowhere, Klein landed just nearby Sinon and Liz followed suit.

"I won, Liz. You owe me a drink on the other side."

"Yeah, right. Whatever." Turning to Sinon, Liz caringly enquired, "Are you alright Sinon? We thought you were in trouble. And we came as fast as we could. But I guess Asuna and Lyfa saved you. You should take care of yourself, you know."

Sinon and Liz had never been the best of friends. There was always a sort of jealousy lurking in between them. On hearing what Liz had said, Sinon pouted in an annoyed manner, "Really? You thought they saved me? You are wrong. Asuna was the one in trouble and I SAVED HER."

Liz was quite surprised at what Sinon had just said.

"Yes they did save me. I was the one in trouble." Asuna replied as she also noticed Agil standing at a distance. She noticed the horrified expression and walked to hi along with the others. _What's happened to him?_

"Hello! Are you alright?" Not a reply.

Agil seemed to be lost in deep thought.

"Are you lagging man?" Klein said in a jovial voice while waving his hand in front of Agil. "What happened man? Did you see some kind of a ghost?"

The words which came out Agil's mouth left Sinon and Lyfa in confusion and the other three, Asuna, Liz and Klein in utter shock.

"_**The... The... The Fallen..."**_

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_**A/N : Wow. That was my longest chapter till now. I hope it was as interesting and thrilling as I felt it was (or at least meant it to be).  
**_

_**Thanks for reading and as always, PLEASE REVIEW!**_

_**Next Chapter : THE FALLEN!**_


	7. Chapter 6 : The Fallen

**My sincere apologies for not updating for so long. Have been busy with exams and stuff. Here's a real long chapter to make up for all the time you waited. Hope you like it. **

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SWORD ART ONLINE.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 6**

**THE FALLEN**

"_**The... The... The Fallen..."**_

These were the only words Agil uttered with a terrified look on his face.

Even the carefree Klein was now horrified and had a serious expression on his face.

Sinon and Lyfa, were the only two members of The Knights of Survival, who had not been in the old SAO. As a result of that they were totally unaware of this person.

Lyfa broke the silence and asked, "Who is this Fallen? "

"The name is creepy." Sinon replied in her usual cold manner.

"And so is the person." Klein shot back.

Both Sinon and Lyfa were shocked at his response.

"I.. I .. I feared it might be him. But I didn't want to believe that it was him. "Asuna's trembling voice scared the two even more.

_If even Asuna is scared, then this is even more serious than what it looks. _

"Can somebody tell me who this Fallen is?"

Agil finally regained his composure and answered Lyfa's question.

"Back in SAO, PKing was not encouraged. No. PKing was wrong. It was a morbid crime because the person died both in VR and in reality. It meant that PKing was murdering. Even though Kayaba Akihiko had clearly stated that a person's death inside SAO would mean that the person would die in real world, some people still went around killing other players."

"And there was this one guild which was full of people who killed other players. This guild was called The Laughing Coffin. It was that one guild whom everyone feared. Some of them killed for money, some for items and some, well, they just killed because it was fun. The members of The Laughing Coffin were strong as well. They hid in certain floors, and once they found a prey, they killed them. They even accepted money from other players to act as assassins. They were ruthless and they were nothing more than cold-hearten blood thirsty murderers."

"The Fallen was one of the strongest members of The Laughing Coffin. Not only in his guild, he was one of the strongest in SAO. No one knew where he trained or how he had gotten so strong, because he never fought on the front lines. He never took part in any boss fights. Yet he was very strong, or that's what I heard. No one ever saw him fight. But whenever he was around, there was this eerie feeling and ominous intuition of his strength."

Asuna and Klein seemed to agree with Agil. Lyfa and Sinon on the other hand were listening to Agil with intent.

"Once, the nuisance caused by this guild had crossed the limit. So many players were being slayed. We could not tolerate this guild anymore. We searched every nook and corner which we had unlocked in SAO, searching for their HQ. And after months of hard work, we finally found it in the depths of a certain floor. We gathered a huge force and went to defeat these people."

"Only problem was that it was not a safe zone, meaning it would be a combat to death. For those people killing wasn't new. For us, it was. We feared it. We were afraid that if things got out of control, many would die in the battle."

"As I said, we left the frontlines, gathered some of our strongest players and went to face them. Even Asuna, Klein and Kirito came to face them. It was a brutal battle. Players from both sides died. Our forces were depleted and it looked as if we were nearing our end. We were outnumbered, and then there were three strong players in The Laughing Coffin, whose levels were as good as Asuna's or Kirito's. "

"But what happened next felt unreal. That was the only time I had seen Kirito lose his cool in the game. He had fought with a rage in him before, but for some reason, on seeing Fallen and the other two, Kirito became irate. He took his two swords, and without thinking killed whoever came in front him. We had gone there to capture and lock those criminals in the jail at SAO. But matters had gone out of hand, and the only way to defend ourselves was by killing them."

"Kirito killed a few of them. They were dumbfounded looking at Kirito's ability. All of them. Even Fallen. Some members of their guild gave up. Some surrendered. Others fought in vain and died. And after all the blood that had been shed, we won the battle. But there seemed to be no point of winning. We had to stoop to their level to win. We had to PK. We lost so many of our friends as well. We have been burdened by that guilt ever since. "

"What happened to the Laughing Coffin then?"

"It was wiped out. All the members either died or were locked up. But..."

"_But_?"

"We never caught The Fallen because he left and ran away. Rumors said he got scared of Kirito and ran away. I never believed it though."

Agil's final remark left everyone confused except Asuna and she spoke next to clear the doubts in their mind.

"We all saw him fight. There was a time when he had to face three members of The Holy Dragon Alliance all by himself. Those three were one of the strongest players we had. And he killed two of them without as much as a scratch on him. Before he could kill the third, Kirito and I jumped in and engaged him in combat. But soon, the other members of The Laughing Coffin caught up to us. They were defending him. But for the short moment me and Kirito faced him, I could tell that he was very strong, stronger than me. Maybe even as strong as Kirito. And a player with such power would never run away from battle. He had a morbid look in his eyes. He killed because he wanted to. A person like that would never rum away from a battle."

"We were wrong. When we interrogated the members of The Laughing Coffin, what we found out was even more shocking."

"The Fallen was not a member of The Laughing Coffin when we fought them. He had been exterminated from the guild months before our battle. The reason for his extermination being, his opinion on a certain issue differed from a few others. They ran into an altercation. And Fallen slayed those members when he had the chance. The leader of the group as livid at what Fallen had done and told Fallen to control himself. But Fallen was not one to take orders. He defied the leader. Removing Fallen by force was difficult because of his strength. So, they had exterminated him and paid the Fallen a huge sum to leave them alone. "

"It was odd that he even turned up at the battle. Why should he? Why would he fight for the guild that had exterminated him? For what reason? We could not understand anything from the interrogation. None of the captured members knew much about him. But all we heard were gruesome tales of The Fallen. His powers, some said, were beyond imagination. We only saw a glimpse of his powers and it was shockingly strong."

"To date, none of us know, why the Fallen came to fight that day or the reason why he ran away. It has been an unsolved mystery."

There was a long silence in the forest. The only sound came from the fluttering of Yui's small pixie wings. None of them spoke as they all were immersed in thought about what was going around them. Another system announcement broke the silence.

_**[SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT]**_

_**[TIME ELAPSED: 3 HOURS 42 MINUTES]**_

_**[TOTAL NUMBER OF GUILDS: 64]**_

_**[GUILDS ELIMINATED: 59]**_

"What? 59 guilds have been wiped out already?" Klein asked in a confused manner.

"Divide and conquer. I think separating the guild members did not work well for the players," Sinon said in her usual cold voice.

"Out of the five guilds remaining, we are one. So the remaining four..."

Lyfa was instantly cut short by Asuna.

"One of them is the Laughing Coffin. And there is a possibility that The Fallen might be leading them." Asuna swallowed hard on saying these words. She had still not told the others about the pain absorber level, because she feared it might scare them beyond imagination._ Kirito-kun, where are you? We need you. I need you._

Before anyone could say another word, another system announcement interrupted their conversation.

_**[CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FIVE REMAINING GROUPS]**_

_**[YOU WOULD NOW BE TELEPORTED TO THE BOSS ROOM NOW]**_

"Boss room? What is happening here?" Klein's spat out with an annoyed expression on his face and these were the last words spoken in that eerie forest as the teleportation began.

And with a flash of light, all of them warped out of the deadly forest.

* * *

**A/N: Firstly, I apologize for writing about the battle between the Laughing Coffin and the crusaders. If you have read Volume 5 you'd know it. But I went on describing it in the first few paragraphs because some of you might not have read Volume 5. Also I changed certain things to make them fall into my story keeping the original storyline intact. **

**Nonetheless, thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. And as always PLEASE REVIEW. **

**The next update might be the final chapter. So stay tuned!**


	8. Chapter 7: The Return

**Apologies for the late update.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 7  
**

**THE RETURN  
**

Asuna found herself in a dark and cold forest. The whole place was drowned in utter darkness and she could feel the snowflakes fall on her. This wasn't something she had anticipated.

"So cold", Asuna shivered and looked around. She couldn't find anyone. _Not this again._

But Asuna wasn't the type of person to make the same mistake. She wanted to get back with her guild members as soon as possible. She messaged the others and decided to meet at the only place which was visible from where she was standing, a huge crystal tree far away. She hoped that the others could see it as well. And once she finished sending the message, Asuna chanted a spell, lit her way, and flew at lightning speed towards her destination.

_It does not feel right. I am missing something. Boss rooms are never so big. But, this place is huge. _

Asuna reached at the foot of the huge tree within minutes. She reached earlier than she had estimated.

And in a matter of minutes, others followed.

Agil, Klein, Liz, Lyfa and Sinon, all reached the spot, to Asuna's relief.

"It's good to be back together. I didn't want to be alone in a place like this with that Fallen guy around."

"So, even the great Lyfa-san is scared huh?" Klein chuckled.

"No." Lyfa smacked Klein in the stomach. "I am not scared, you dummy."

"Well, now what?" Sinon pouted in her usual manner.

"Well, the only thing left to do-"

Asuna was interrupted by fluttering of wings. She could feel that some people were approaching.

"Some people are coming. Everyone be ready."

All of them drew their swords and stood in a circle, when Yui appeared and sat on Asuna's shoulder.

"Go Mama! I know you can do it."

And then they could see it. 29 players surrounded them.

Asuna and the others were completely lost for words. _There are too many of them._

Two players who liked very much like each other stepped forward. One was a Spriggan and the other a Salamander. Even though they were from different clans, they had an uncanny resemblance to each other.

_Are they twins?_

Asuna's question would be answered soon.

"Well well. What do we have here? So, it's just the six of you. What should we do brother?"

"We killed off the other two guilds. It didn't take much time even though there were about a dozen of them in each."

"We could do the same by launching a full-fledged attack on them."

"Where's the fun in that brother? Look at them. They look scared out of their minds"

"So, I think—"

Asuna interrupted the twins' conversation.

"Enough. Do you want to fight or not?"

"Well, if that's what you want then, everyone attack!"

And at the very instant when the Salamander gave the command, the other members of his guild, arranged themselves in a circular formation and cast spells and targeted Asuna and her friends.

Asuna and Lyfa were quick of their feet. They both flew at lightning speed and took on six enemies head on.

"Let's show them what we got Agil. Come on!"

With that said, Klein and Agil attacked the other side of the formation. Sinon and Liz were busy fending off enemy players who had attacked them.

A brutal fight ensued and with the pain absorber level at painfully low levels, it wasn't easy fighting so many. With every attack that hit them, it was excruciatingly painful.

Asuna was surrounded by eight members. She had already killed a couple of them, but looking at her strength, the twins commanded their guild members to get rid of Asuna first.

Klein and Agil, meanwhile had teamed up with Lyfa, Sinon and Liz. Even though, they were hopelessly out numbered, their teamwork helped them defend each other. But, yet their HP was getting low.

_At this rate, we will be wiped out._

The twins sat back and looked on.

"She fights well. Doesn't she?" the Salamander twin said pointing on Asuna.

"Yes. She is strong. They all are. They are stronger than the ones we met before. It's a pity that we have to kill them. I am enjoying them watching fight."

Liz's HP hit rock bottom as she collapsed to ground. A homing type spell flew at her, but Lyfa dived in front of Liz to take the hit, and sacrificing her won HP to save Liz from dying in the game.

"Lyfa-san, please don't sacrifice yourself for me. Fight for yourself. There is no need to save me." Liz said with tears in her eyes.

"No, Liz. We are a team. We either win together or die together."

Klein and Agil jumped in front of Liz to protect Liz and Lyfa from the attacks. Sinon on the other hand, was ruthless and was battling valiantly as she took out another enemy.

There were ten players surrounding Asuna now. And they all charged at her with their swords firmly held in their hands. Asuna's HP was pretty low as well. _Today just keeps getting worse._

Even though, she knew she wouldn't be able to beat so many all by herself, Asuna wasn't the type to give up._ Kirito-kun, now would be a good time for you to come._

"Yui-chan. Take care."

And having uttered this e words, Asuna held her rapier high up in the air and activated the OSS, Mother Rosario. And with the eleven hit combo, she took on all ten of them at once. Asuna's speed and agility combined with her powerful OSS, hammered the enemy players. She killed a few, and slashed the HP of others to critically low levels and with the final and eleventh hit, she slashed two of them in the same hit to oblivion and beyond. There remained only four remaining out of the ten that fought her and even these were lying on the ground, unable to move or comprehend what had just happened.

The twins realized that Asuna would be totally defenseless after such an OSS, and attacked her head on. The force of their attack threw Asuna back. Klein came flying to defend her, but another player attacked him and sent Klein flying in the other direction. Asuna fell to the ground, utterly defenseless and her HP was almost over. As she looked up, she saw the two twins charging at her, to strike the final bow to kill her.

Agil, Liz, Sinon and Lyfa summoned whatever little strength was left in them and managed to escape the enemy's attacks and charged at the twins. But the enemies caught up and they were crushed to the ground, rendering them useless and helpless. They looked on as the twins were about to kill Asuna with their final hit.

Asuna closed her eyes in despair as she was about to be killed. _Sorry, Kirito-kun. I couldn't win._

A flash of light filled the whole place and it drowned in utter silence. A blade came flying at the twins, and with one deafening blow, chopped their heads off and they both disappeared in an instant.

Everyone was utterly shocked as the blade which had done that, went and hit a tree nearby almost taking it down.

_Is it you K-K-Kiroto-kun?_

As much as Asuna felt it was Kirito, it was like him. Coming at the end, and saving her, like he always did, but something was wrong. She had a gut feeling that it was. Somehow it didn't feel as if it was Kirito.

A dark figure slowly walked towards the place where the fight was taking place. His footsteps were the only sound that could be heard as everyone watched in utter shock.

"Kirito! You finally showed up! Couldn't you come earlier, idiot?" Klein happily said as tears of joy and relief rolled down his eyes.

As the person came even closer, his heart almost stopped for an instant. He looked around at the others, Asuna, Liz, Sinon, Agil and Lyfa.

He saw the same expression of horror on their faces as well. Even the members of the Twins' guild seemed to be shocked beyond imagination. Klein swallowed heard as the person walked towards them.

_That's not Kirito. _

_That's...That's... That's Fallen!_

* * *

**_A/N: _**

**_For once, it wasn't Kirito who saved Asuna._**

**_Thanks for reading! And as always, PLEASE REVIEW. Your feedback is priceless.  
_**


	9. Chapter 8: Torture

**Firstly, my sincere apologies to everyone for such a late update . I really, truly, am sorry. Without further delay, here, the latest chapter.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 8**

**TORTURE**

A slight breeze blew across the landscape, as the whole forest was now drowned in an eerie silence, and the only sounds to be heard, were that of Fallen's footsteps.

Asuna was still down, unable to get up, and rest of her guild was as dumbfounded as she was.

_Why did he save me?_

"You are probably thinking why I saved you.", said fallen in a cold voice, that sent a cold chill through Liz and Klein, as they started trembling in fear.

"You can say it was on a mere whim."

Asuna and others continued to listen intently to what Fallen was saying.

"You see, I don't want you to be killed, dear Lightning Flash of the Holy Dragon Alliance."

"I am not a part of it anymore. There is no longer a guild like that. And don't call me like that again.", Asuna said as she got back to her feet and slowly started walking towards het other guild members, "What do you want?".

"What do I want? It's quite simple. I want to torture that Black Swordsman. I want to torture him and maybe kill him. But torture mostly. And also, I want to find out which of us is better."

"Kirito isn't here—", Agil was about to complete what he said, when he was interrupted by Fallen.

"I know he is not here with you. But he will come. I am sure. He has to. If he wants to save his friends, and his girlfriend, then I guess he just has to come. I don't like waiting so, he better turn up quickly. Otherwise, it would not end up quite well for you lot."

"Don't underestimate us.", Sinon and Lyfa said in unison. Having never seen Fallen in the old SAO before, they were still unaware of how strong Fallen really was.

Klein quickly moved to Sinon and whispered, "Idiots! Don't taunt him. You have no idea how strong he is."

Fallen started to walk towards Asuna and her guild, but stopped in his stride, when all of them drew out their swords.

"Either, you people can cooperate and some of you will get hurt. Or you can decide to fight me, in which case all of you will hurt. What do you want it to be?"

"What do you want?", Asuna asked Fallen once again as she noticed that Yui was missing now. _Where did Yui go?_

"Since he is not here, I'll like to fight you.", said Fallen pointing at Asuna and he continued, "It wouldn't be much of a fight since you are already in a bad shape, but I hate waiting. So, I'll give you a few minutes to recover and then I'll fight you, without any swords or shield. You on the other hand can use whatever you want. That should be fair. Fine with you?"

Even though Asuna considered it disgraceful to be given a handicap advantage before the battle, or to be played around with, she had no other choice. _Damn it. I have no other choice._

"Fine. I accept your challenge."

"Asuna wait. We are a team. Don't agree to this madman's demand. We can beat him as a team.", said Lyfa.

"No Lyfa-san. It's between me and him now. Just heal me a bit. I'll be fine. Don't worry. We'll win. He can never beat our guild. Not now. Not ever.", Asuna said these words while piercing Fallen with her hazel eyes.

"Bravo Asuna. Bravo. What a motivational speech. I am so scared. Now get ready."

After a few minutes, Asuna stood on one side with the rapier held firmly in her hand as Fallen stood on the other side. The playful eyes, which Fallen sported for the past few minutes were gone now as the cold deathly sinister tone returned to his eyes.

"I want you to use you 11-hit OSS on me. What do you call it? That Mother something. That one. Come on."

Asuna grinned as she did not like this sort of treatment. But she had no other choice, she had to protect her guild, and for that reason, she started sprinting towards Fallen and unleashed he OSS, Mother Rosario.

To Asuna's surprise, Fallen did not move an inch. She unleashed the OSS on him as he stood there and took each blow. Asuna's rapier worked tirelessly as he stood rooted to the spot, taking direct hits. Even after the sixth hit, Fallen still stood there not showing any signs of pain at all. To Asuna's irritation he was still smiling.

Asuna continued with the remaining hits. _I'll wipe that smile off your face._

Asuna lifted her rapier high up in the air, about to strike the final, the eleventh deafening blow. As she moved the rapier towards Fallen, Fallen raised his right hand in an instant and caught the rapier, stopping the attack.

Asuna looked on in shock as Fallen held the other side of her rapier. She had used almost all her energy in the OSS, and even after sustaining so many injuries, Fallen was still standing.

Fallen closed his eyes and pulled the rapier out of Asuna's hand and spun the rapier around and held it firmly in his hand. "Time for you to die.", Fallen kicked at Asuna's midsection. His action was so quick that Asuna had no time to react and she fell on the ground as a result of the kick.

Fallen walked to where Asuna was lying and placed his foot over Asuna's face and started crushing it against the ground. He positioned the rapier over Asuna's neck and raised it high up in the air.

"It's a shame that you have to die this way. You deserve better than being beheaded by your own sword. But we don't always get what we deserve, do we?"

Fallen kicked at Asuna's face with his foot and then stepped back a few steps making room for swinging the rapier, in order to completely behead Asuna in one swinging action of the blade.

Asuna closed her eyes, for one last time, as a tear trickled down from her eyes and fell on the grass besides her. _This is the end._

"Goodbye, Lighning Flash."

Fallen closed his eyes and swung the rapier violently as Fallen felt his sword cut through and heard the 'sweet' sound of the blade slicing flesh.

* * *

**A/N: I hope reading the chapter was not the only torture you had to suffer. (Sarcasm)**

**Once again, sorry for not updating for months. I'll update sooner from now on. ****And I'll mostly be finishing off the story with the next chapter. So, what do you people think?  
**

**As usual, thanks for reading and do review, if you want to.I'd love to hear what you have to say. **


	10. Chapter 9 : You're late

**CHAPTER 9  
**

"**YOU'RE LATE"**

Fallen slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see Asuna's body break into pixels and disappear into nothingness. But, the sight in front of him put an even bigger smile on his face.

Kirito was leaning over Asuna, having shielded her from Fallen's attack. Blood dripped down from Kirito's back as he gently raised Asuna's head. Yui was sitting on Kirito's shoulder, with a concerned expression as she looked on at Asuna.

Asuna smiled weakly as she slowly lifted her hand and touched Kirito's cheek. "You're late Kirito-kun."

"I am sorry, Asuna. I got held up." said Kirito, as he took Asuna's hand in his and held them comfortingly.

Kirito lifted Asuna in his arms and got up. He walked to where his comrades were standing. "Lyfa-san, can you heal Asuna?"

"Of course, Onii-san.", Lyfa and Asuna walked up to Kirito and helped Asuna stand once again.

Klein walked up to Kirito and knocked him on his head. Klein's face was lit up on seeing Kirito. "Hey Kirito! You should work on your timing. We almost got killed."

Kirito smiled back at Klein. "After looking at Asuna's condition, I'm surprised that you are still alive."

Klein was about to reply to what Kirito said, but Fallen interrupted.

"Stop with the sweet talk. I have waited for a very long time. And you didn't even let me kill that girl. At least come and entertain me, Black Swordsman."

Kirito turned back and looked at Fallen. Kirito felt a chill run down his spine when he looked into Fallen's cold-blooded eyes. _Those eyes. They haven't changed a bit._

Fallen slowly started walking to where his sword had fallen initially. He picked it up and through Asuna's rapier away.

"Let's get started then.", said Fallen Turning back to Kirito.

Kirito unsheathed his sword, the legendary sword Excalibur.

"One sword will not be enough to beat me, irrespective how legendary the sword is. I want to face you with BOTH your swords. And I hope that you know which OTHER sword I am talking about."

Kirito looked astonished on hearing Fallen's words. _How did he know?_

"But, how did he know that Papa can use two swords and that he has another one?", said Yui, who looked equally surprised.

Having recovered a little from her injuries, Asuna interjected. "What are you talking about Yui? There is no restriction on using two swords in ALO. There are no unique skills like 'Dual Blade' in SAO, so why are you surprised at what he just said?"

"Yes. But using two swords would be extremely difficult in ALO because there are no system assisted dual sword attacks. Besides, he seems to know that Papa has another sword."

"He does? When did Kirito get another?", asked Agil who also looked confused now.

"Yes. Papa has another sword. He got it just before the tournament started."

"Is it also some legendary sword, like The Excalibur?", Sinon asked with a glint in her eyes.

"You and Lyfa-san, might not recognize it. But, I am sure the others will.", said Yui as she pointed at Kirito, whose other sword appeared.

It was the Elucidator, Kirito's sword in SAO. That sword which got him the name, "The Black Swordsman."

"How did you know that I had this sword? I unlocked it only a few hours ago. How is it that you were aware of me possessing it?"

"Well, looks like the guy good with swords wants to hear some words first. About your Elucidator, who do you think told you about it in the first place?"

"It was you, who told me about the quest?"

"Yes. In fact, it was me who put that quest up in the first place."

Kirito was listening to Fallen's words with intent. _The only way he could do something like that is._

"As you may have guessed, I am a hacker. I orchestrated all of this. The quest, the tournament, the pain absorber levels, everything. It was all me."

"Why go to such extents? What is it that you want?"

"What do I want? I want you. I want to fight that madman who blew away the Laughing Coffin that day. I want to fight that murderer who annihilated and PKed so many other PKers that day."

Kirito looked at Fallen with a shocked expression on his face. Memories were rushing back to him. He swallowed hard as a sweat trickled down his face.

"Don't be intimidated now. I am tired of facing weaklings. I want to face someone who is at least half as strong as I am. If I was to tell you what I was about to do to your beloved Asuna, you'd probably want to kill me. That is what I want."

Kirito cleared his throat and asked, "What do you mean?"

Fallen had an even bigger smile on his face and started giggling. He then continued, "Like I said, I am a hacker. And this sword, the one I am holding, is no ordinary sword. I programmed this sword to hurt people, both in this world and the real one. It can override the safety features of the AmuSphere and inflict permanent damage on your brain in reality. Of course the degree of that would be very low by default. But that's the reason I hacked into the system and changed the pain absorber level. With the pain absorber level at zero, that bit of damage increases exponentially. The person may not die in the real world, but they would suffer serious damage. Permanent damage, rather."

Fallen slowly turned his head and looked at Asuna with a smirk on his face.

Kirito turned his head in the direction where Fallen was looking at. Another chill ran down Kirito's spine as he realised the implications of what Fallen had just said. He swallowed hard as he looked on at Asuna with a pale morbid expression on his face.

Kirito was dumbfounded as he felt his whole life fall apart in front of his own eyes. Both his swords slipped from his hands and fell down on the ground. _Asuna... I didn't come on time... I was late.. I was late... She would be .._

"I wonder if she still looks pretty in the real world. After going through that fight with me, I wonder in what ways the shape of her face has changed. Hmmm. May be her eyes popped out in an ugly way or maybe her ears bled...", said Fallen with a weak smile on his face, his eyes still fixed at Asuna. "Anyway, the damage has been done. She would be hurt in the real world as well. More than you could imagine."

Fallen slowly turned his head to a see the helpless morbid shocked expression on Kirito's face. _Priceless._

"You're late, Black Swordsman."

* * *

**A/N: I just had to bring Kirito in. Even if it was predictable. **

**Was it confusing? Let me know if you felt it was.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


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